The Whitehall boys basketball team played well on the defensive end in the opening round of the district tournament against Nazareth, but it was at the offensive end where they had trouble keeping pace.

The result was a 49-34 loss to the Blue Eagles, eliminating them from the tournament and ending their season a couple weeks ago.

Coming into this season, head coach Jeff Jones knew that points would be at a premium. They needed to find scoring, and on some nights they weren’t able to muster enough points to tilt the outcome in their favor. That came into play against Nazareth as they couldn’t overcome an early deficit.

“That’s kind of been the story of our season,” said Jones.

He said that they’ve had a difficult time scoring this season, and once the Blue Eagles opened the game with a 7-0 run, he called a timeout. They tried to regroup, but Jones said that they never were able to get back into the game from that point.

Defensively, they played well like they have all season. They held the Blue Eagles under 50 points, and that’s often a recipe for success for a Jones-coached squad. However, that weren’t able to cross that 50-point threshold and advance through the opening round of the District XI 6A tournament.

Jones said that their defensive effort was consistent throughout the year, and once again they demonstrated that tenacity against the Blue Eagles.

“The defensive end we were pretty pleased with; offense is where we had trouble,” said Jones.

In that final game, Tommy Buskirk, Alexander Derkits and Raymond Jackson each finished with six points. Matthew Snyder dropped in four points, while Luke Gilbert added three. Additionally, Zack Hartman, Torrey Tyson, Anthony Saed and Gavin Kneller each scored two for the Zephs.

The Zephyrs finished the year 4-14, and will now look toward next season with an eye toward a summer that returns to a familiar schedule of events.

They’ll be losing four seniors who were crucial to their program over the last few years. They include Luke Gilbert, Zack Hartman, Matthew Snyder and Matthew Lisicky.

Jones said that Gilbert was their primary perimeter threat this season. He also supplied them with leadership throughout his senior season, and was their nominee for scholar athlete. Jones said that Gilbert will be headed to West Chester University.

Hartman was their anchor in the middle this year, said Jones. He said he started about half of their games, and just kept grinding as an undersized post player.

“He gave us some stability at the five, and understood what we needed,” said Jones.

After missing last season with an injury, Jones said that Hartman was an invaluable member to this year’s squad.

Matthew Snyder came off the bench this season for the Zephyrs and made the most of his minutes on the floor. Jones said that he was a tremendous role model for the younger players, and left an indelible impact on the underclassmen.

“He’s a kid you want to be part of your program,” said Jones.

Jones said that Snyder will be attending Moravian College where he’ll be playing baseball.

Another senior whose leadership spoke volumes was team co-captain Lisicky. Jones said the was probably their strongest player, someone who played hard all the time. Lisicky was a vocal leader as well, making sure his teammates knew he was rooting for their success, said Jones.

“He’s a kid who you want to represent your school,” said Jones.

Lisicky will be playing volleyball this spring, and after graduation will be attending West Chester University.

Despite those losses, the Zephyrs will retain a good portion of their varsity roster. Jones said that 21 of the players they had in the gym practicing this year will be returning. That roster includes leading scorer Buskirk, who averaged nine points a game this season. They’ll also have guards Bryce Bashore and Ian Werner back in the fold, two players who logged a ton of varsity minutes this season.

The list of major minutes also extends to returnees Tyson, Derkits, Jackson, Kneller, Saed, Damonte Foreman and Luke Keppel.

Jones was also optimistic about the players who will be pushing those returnees for minutes, noting that both the junior varsity and freshmen teams had winning seasons.

“There are some younger kids who are basketball players,” said Jones. “They’re pretty skilled, and they’ll be pushing the guys who are ahead of them.”

He said that a whole lot of players got experience this season. However, it wasn’t in established roles as they were searching for different combinations throughout the season. He hopes that next year will trend toward having players back into roles that they can more or less lock into and maximize their potential.

With the expectation of a full summer of activities, he feels that they can build on some of the experience gained in the winter. Still, he said it’s a game of skill and players need to work at their games in order to achieve success. This season taught them that.

“We’re hoping that next year is a little bit different,” said Jones.